Italian Cooking Holiday favourites in Rome

Dar Filettaro

One of the Taste Trails Rome Italian cooking holiday favourites , the time-warped sign on the facade says FILETTI DI BACCALÀ, and that pretty much says it all. Tucked into a piazza in front of Santa Barbara church, Dar Filettaro is a Roman legend. Locals queue for a seat at the outdoor trestles or in the no-frills dining room, where the tablecloths are paper and the service is efficient bordering on brusque. Choose (quickly, they need your table) from a spartan menu of baccalà – battered salt cod – and a few accompaniments: chicory shoots, anchovies, bruschetta, beans and draught beer. Do not expect comfort or glamour; do expect to eat brilliant cucina povera in a rarefied atmosphere thick with tradition, cholesterol and Roman magic.

IL Forno - Campo de’ Fiori

The Forno uses between twenty-five and thirty ltrs of extra virgin olive oil a day. It’s mainly used for the pizza, but also for pane all’olio, ciambelline al vino, castagnaccio, and for sandwiches. Pizza bianca is by far the biggest seller at this popular forno. The excellent quality of the olive oil is key to the excellence of the pizza.

“I’m Marchigian. Most bakers in Rome are from the Marche. A rosciolo is a kind of fish which evidently my ancestors liked a lot,” says Fabrizio Roscioli owner of the Forno Campo de’ Fiori. He, together with a cousin, owns the enormously popular bakery that was started by his father and uncle. In the 1950s his uncle introduced sliced bread from America and achieved certain fame for this in Rome. A few streets away, on Via dei Chiavari, there is another Roscioli bakery. It’s called the Antico Forno Marco Roscioli and belongs to a different branch of the family.

What is known in Rome as pizza bianca, or white pizza, is called “focaccia” in other parts of Italy and the world. Customers who mean to bring the pizza bianca home invariably find themselves pulling warming pieces from the bag. The forno also makes pizzas which generally feature one or two ingredients. There’s a pizza rossa which has a thin film of brightly flavored tomato purée without cheese. There are others with tomato and cheese, or prosciutto, or potatoes, or eggplant, or zucchini, or mushrooms. One of the most delicious and beautiful to look at is made with zucchini flowers, which have been cut lengthwise and opened flat, and then arranged on the dough with anchovy pieces, cheese and extra virgin olive oil.

During your stay on the Italian cooking holiday you will taste some of Italy's finest extra virgin olive oil - Sabina DOP.

Giolitti - Rome's Finest gelato

Italian Cooking Holiday www.tastetrailsrome.com Giolitti Rome

Established in 1900 and still a family run business to this day, Giolitti is arguably Rome’s best-known gelateria. Their Pantheon location is the original store, and is hands down the most elegant place to devour a gelato in the city.

Literally 100s of flavours , you will be spoilt for choice ,you will be taken back to your childhood as and it will , the ice cream begins to melt and go all over your hands !

This is a compulsory stop on the Italian cooking holiday as we wander there after lunch on our day in Rome.

Eataly Roma. A new favourite with us on the Italian cooking holiday

Italian cooking holiday favourites . Eataly Roma www.tastetrailsrome

A new favourite of ours on the Italian cooking holiday but sadly we generally don't have time to visit on our day in Rome - as it is not in the centre and a little of the beaten track. For more than two decades, the glass-domed Air Terminal languished beside the rail lines of Rome’s Stazione Ostiense in a state of abandonment. Then, two years ago, the high-end store Eataly began transforming the structure into its 15th outpost, its largest yet. The complex opened in June, bringing 170,000 square feet of artisanal Italian food heaven.

We do have other favourites on our Italian cooking holiday day in Rome that we wish to keep to ourselves and share with our guests when they are with us. Rome is full of surprises , many only a few steps from tourist spots yet unknown to them and for this they are to us - special.

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